Euthanized Phillips

I think the new EIC grossly under estimated Phillips following. He has been my favorite auto journalist for decades. Even back in the day when I purchased 3 or 4 different car mags per month, Car and Driver was my favorite because of guys like Patrick Bedard, Brock Yates and John Phillips. To fire Phillips without a word is a classless move. A writer of his stature, with his body of work deserves more than simply being erased. None of your recent hires have the wit or literary Kung foo to make me laugh so hard I fall off the toilet. The man who penned ‘Lounge Lizard’, wrote of cowering in an RV at Burning Man and Drove a C6 Vette to the North Pole deserves more. Much more. Shame on you.

The following is from a post from user jim r on another thread about John Phillips...

"John asked me to post something about his departure. Yes he's no longer with C&D. I've been a friend of John's since high school. Went on many adventures with his Boss 302, went to Mid-Ohio frequently, saw the Chapparal sucker car at the Glen with him, etc. etc. Lost track of each other for many years and reconnected a few years ago.

These are my words, not a quote from John, but I think I'm accurately communicating what he relayed to me. There has been a recent management change at C&D and the result has been that he was let go. He's not happy with the change, but life goes on. He is enjoying the fact that for the first time in 40 years he doesn't have a deadline in front of him. I'm confident we'll have opportunities in the future to enjoy his writing, but it may not be in the places we would normally look for it.

I was very disappointed that C&D didn't acknowledge his departure or recognize his contribution over the years. I'm biased of course, but to me he was the essence of the magazine. Every time I read an article and found a particularly entertaining description or comment, I could count on checking who wrote the article and finding John's name."

The following is from a post from user jim r on another thread about John Phillips...

"John asked me to post something about his departure. Yes he's no longer with C&D. ...

I was very disappointed that C&D didn't acknowledge his departure or recognize his contribution over the years. I'm biased of course, but to me he was the essence of the magazine. Every time I read an article and found a particularly entertaining description or comment, I could count on checking who wrote the article and finding John's name."

Wow, Phillips is really no longer with C&D? That's a shame. None of us can stay forever, but his writing will be missed. He was a huge part of this magazine's success for decades.

Apparently just waking up to this fact also. Phillips was really all this magazine had left. Just opened the issue that arrived today and the columnists are Ezra and Pund. Sorry, that just doesn't cut it and there is no replacement for John Phillips. We don't need another Jalopnik and if that is the attempt, it fails. More like Jalopy.